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NORTEL NETWORKS (NT)
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LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES (LU)
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CISCO SYSTEMS
(CSCO)
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The undisputed leader in the optical equipment market, it introduced gear that transmits data at 10 gigabits a second in 1996, four times faster than gear sold by rivals at the time.
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No.2, but fading. It was a star after its spin-off from AT&T. But missteps in the optical market include late introduction of a 10-gigabit optical system.
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The up-and-comer. The powerhouse of the Internet equipment market is moving into the optical world. Sales of its optical gear rose more than 50% during the second quarter.
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Market Share It hit 35% last year and is expected to rise to 45% of this year's $23.6 billion market.
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Market Share Analysts expect
Lucent will be stuck at about 25% of the optical market through 2001.
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Market Share Just 3% of the optical market, but gaining ground.
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Acquisitions Bolstered by a market cap of $200 billion, Nortel has gone shopping. Its $3 billion purchase of Qtera beefed up its long-distance systems, and its $300 million deal for Cambrian gave it metro gear.
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Acquisitions Its stock is down 50% for the year, dropping its market cap to $102 billion. That makes it difficult to use its stock to buy hot optical upstarts. Still, its $4.5 billion acquisition of Chromatis gives it more presence in the metro market.
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Acquisitions Using its $392 billion market cap to buy promising upstarts, such as Cerent, giving Cisco a foothold in the optical transmission market. Now Cisco wants to sell the equipment to SBC and Verizonthe mainstays of Lucent and Nortel's business.
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DATA: RHK, COMPANY REPORTS |
